How to start a sort of "business"...help?

Question

I love photography and taking 'nature' pictures and I love writing stories...How could I turn either of these into a money-making type of thing and where would i start? any suggestions would be helpful.

Answer 1

I commend you on trying to do what you love. My answer is you can do both. Depending on the demographics of your area you need to conduct a study to see what would work in your area. You may want to consider a picture tour service. Where you give tours of your area and take professional pictures of your guests in these areas. You can also consider selling your pictures to artist,magazines, and photo agencies. Then of course you can always write a book on it include your pictures and try to market that. There are many things you can do but one needs to know the market first, and then find a way to cater to that. You can take special birthday photos, graduation, wedding photos, retirements, all with the natural background, creating a niche, in your community and making pictures that will be cherished by so many. If there is a museum or art gallery in your town, find out what you can do to advertise your work there. Also you need to offer a few freebies in exchange for some good word of mouth advertising. Invest in good reliable equipment. Make a deal with your local photo shop to drive business to you, and vise a versa. Also be patient it will all come to be if it is meant to be. Ignore the haters, and the countless people that will try to talk you out of doing it, (including family) and just do it with all the love in the world. You may not become rich, but you do this and I gaurantee you will be happy, and you never know you may one day sell a picture that is worth a million! Good luck and God bless. I hope this helped a bit.

Answer 2

Go to score.org and in the upper left hand corner, enter your zip code. On the next screen, you will find the SCORE chapter nearest you. Call them and arrange for a free meeting with a SCORE counselor.

SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business" is a nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and the formation, growth and success of small business nationwide. SCORE is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

SCORE is headquartered in Herndon, VA and Washington, DC and has 389 chapters throughout the United States and its territories, with 10,500 volunteers nationwide. Both working and retired executives and business owners donate time and expertise as business counselors. SCORE was founded in 1964.

SCORE is America's premier source of free and confidential small business advice for entrepreneurs.

Answer 3

I recommend you ignore any advice that requires you to go to a commercial or personal web site of any kind, but perhaps you are savvy enough to realize that.

How much time do you have to devote to this? Will it be part time - evenings and weekends, or can you pursue this during regular business hours?

What are "nature" pictures? I can certainly assume one meaning that is inappropriate.